by Nicholas Cain<\/p>\n
Have you ever played tic-tac-toe? \u00a0If so, what is the move that Player 1 should<\/em> make first? \u00a0If you answered “Go in the middle!”, your’re WRONG. \u00a0Oh wait, I forgot to tell you, you’re playing this game on a torus. Dr. Jeffery Weeks<\/a> put on a heck of a show tonight, dazzling the audience of the Pacific-Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America<\/a> with his work creating visualizations and games played on two and three-dimensional tori. \u00a0Kids young and old were simultaneously educated and entertained, while being hurled in a spaceship (eerily similar to a Tholian Cruiser) through a dazzling 3D rendering of Poincar\u00e9 Dodecahedral Space. \u00a0Math educators teaching students of any age should certainly check out Dr. Weeks’ page, if not for new teaching tools then at least for a much needed distraction. \u00a0Think of it like Portal meets flash games for nerds, who could say no?!<\/p>\n